Last Updated: Monday September 12 2005 13:58 GMT

Anarchy

This can happen after a civil war in a country, when a government has been destroyed and rival groups are fighting to take its place.

There are also people called anarchists. They believe that any government is a bad thing - this belief is called anarchism.

Anarchists think governments stop people organising their own lives. Instead they think people would be better off if they ruled their own lives and worked together to create a society in any form they choose.